Man accused in SkyTrain attack arrested and charged

Transit police have arrested a man suspected of attacking a woman on the SkyTrain in downtown Vancouver.

Fifty-one-year-old Sandy Sanderson of no fixed address was arrested by Metro Vancouver Transit Police with the help of the Vancouver Police Department and is now facing two separate charges of assault causing bodily harm and mischief.

He allegedly approached the woman on board a train at Waterfront Station early on April 25.

Sanderson is alleged to have grabbed the woman's bag and punched her multiple times in the face, before pushing her through the open doors of the train at Burrard Station.

Police say Sanderson struck the victim's head against seating on the train. A previous police statement on Wednesday said the victim suffered a cut above her eye, a bloody nose and significant swelling to her face.

Police say the woman's cellphone was taken and thrown against a wall.

Early on Wednesday, Transit Police issued an appeal to the public to help identify the suspect.

Around 2:30 p.m. that same day, the Vancouver Police Department responded to an unrelated call in the area of Trout Lake Park, says the statement from Transit Police.

The caller believed the suspect to be the man seen in media reports of the alleged suspect. Police say Sanderson was arrested by VPD officers and transferred to Transit Police custody. 

"Because of [the public's] assistance, this violent offender was arrested and identified so quickly," said Metro Vancouver Transit Police Sgt. Clint Hampton on Thursday.

Police said before the assault, a man approached the woman and told her "you people are why my daughter is sick." Police say the woman is a young adult and a member of a visible minority.

Sanderson is due to appear in provincial court in Vancouver on Thursday to face the charges.